In an unsavoury parting gift, former Idols judge Gareth Cliff slams M-Net in his new book, says he went to court to show he is 'unf**kwithable'.

In an unsavoury parting gift, the former Idols judge Gareth Cliff is slamming M-Net in his second book that will go on sale on Thursday, casting scorn on the pay-TV broadcaster who paid him to be a reality show judge, writing that he went to court to show he's "unf**kwithable".

M-Net fired Gareth Cliff earlier this year as an Idols judge from the 12th season after his social media response on Twitter in the racist Penny Sparrow debacle when he weighed in on the swirling controversy, saying "People really don't understand freedom of speech".

After that, saying he's damaging M-Net and "toxic" to the Idols and M-Net brands, the pay-TV broadcaster cut him loose from the show.

Gareth Cliff then went to court demanding to be let back on the show and won, with the court that ordered M-Net to reinstate him for the 12th season of Idols that concluded on Sunday night.

Gareth Cliff is now gone however from the 13th upcoming season in 2017, with insiders saying there's no love lost between M-Net and Gareth Cliff who also did a local TV talk show previously for the M-Net channel.

Gareth Cliff's second book, Cliffhanger: Confessions of a Shock Jock goes on sale on Thursday which he started writing long before the conclusion of the latest Idols season and in which he includes some choice words for Naspers and M-Net about his controversial Idols firing, court case and subsequent re-instatement on the show.

In an extract from the 215-page book Cliffhanger, published on Sunday on the day of the live Idols finale, Gareth Cliff doesn't have nice words for M-Net.

Several journalists from a broad section of media houses who attended Sunday's live Idols finale described the release of the extract on the same day as the Idols finale as "a distasteful move" and "deliberately detracting from what's supposed to be the show's high point that he himself is in and getting paid for".

At the Idols post-win press conference, TVwithThinus asked Nkateko Mabaso, the group general manager for M-Net South Africa, what M-Net and Idols make of Gareth Cliff's comments about M-Net and Idols in his new book, with Gareth Cliff's parting shot awkwardly coming on his last day as part of the show in which he pointedly also slammed the media in his last TV appearance for the "nonsense in the press".

Nkateko Mabaso said M-Net has no comment.

About the Idols brouhaha in Cliffhanger Gareth Cliff slams M-Net for allowing "a trial by Twitter before the matter was even heard in court" and how his lawyer, Dali Mpofu in the South Gauteng High Court "took shots at Naspers, the parent company of M-Net, chastising them at their cheek in asserting that I lacked empathy for the country when their own record was abominable".

While M-Net CEO Yolisa Phahle called Gareth Cliff "toxic" to the M-Net and Idols brands in court papers, he writes in his book "I had interviewed Yolisa Phahle just a couple of months earlier, and I was sure that the ugly things said about me didn't necessarily come from her. She's actually a gracious lady".

About why he went to court to be reinstated on Idols when the show didn't want him, he writes that "It was about the important, free conversations our nation needs to have and that were stifled by the outrage of the Penny Sparrow debacle. And it was about showing the loudmouths on social media that I wouldn't be bullied, that I was 'unf**kwithable".

In his book Gareth Cliff says "what can and can't a white man say in South Africa in 2016? Some people will advise you to say as little as possible, like the big corporations who don't want to cause trouble with government or the loudmouths on social media. I say that's nonsense. If you're not free to say what you think, you're really not free, even if what you say is wrong".

Gareth Cliff who stated his online radio station CliffCentral in May 2014 and writes about being a new media entrepreneur, writes that he wants to live "in luxury and happiness and with as many options as I can exploit at any given time".

"Mine will not be a life of suffering or deprivation. There is no nobility in poverty. I want to make myself happy so that there is surplus happiness for everyone else".

Fired Idols judge Gareth Cliff set to sue M-Net for R25 million over alleged unfair dismissal and defamation of character; wants his Idols job back.

The fired Idols judge Gareth Cliff is set to sue M-Net for a massive R25 million in damages over alleged unfair dismissal and alleged defamation of character.

eNCA (DStv 403) reports that Gareth Cliff's lawyer, Eric Mabuza, said the radio DJ is suing the Randburg-based pay-TV broadcaster for R25 million in damages over his abrupt firing and also wants to return to the show.

The massive R25 million legal case mounted by Gareth Cliff represents the biggest single law suit against M-Net from an individual entertainer ever and will dull what is M-Net's 30th anniversary this year in October since the pay-TV broadcaster started 3 decades ago in 1986.

Ironically, advocate Dali Mpofu, the former SABC CEO, will now represent Gareth Cliff in his case against Idols and the pay-TV broadcaster.

M-Net spokesperson Nondumiso Mabece in response to a media enquiry tells me that "M-Net can confirm that a letter of demand was received from Gareth Cliff and we are currently consulting our lawyers. We will respond to the letter of demand in due course."

The nationwide auditions of the 12th season of Idols, produced by [SIC] Entertainment, is starting in less than two weeks' time on 29 January.

M-Net told Gareth Cliff last Friday that he's fired over social media comments related to the racist Penny Sparrow debate that ignited a firestorm in South Africa.

After the real estate agent called black people "monkeys", Gareth Cliff remarked that "People really don't understand free speech at all."

Last Saturday M-Net issued a press statement that Gareth Cliff has been dismissed from the M-Net (DStv 101) and Mzansi Magic (DStv 161) show over "insensitivity" he's shown in his remarks.

M-Net raised eyebrows getting rid of Gareth Cliff when it M-Net executives didn't fire or sanction the other Idols judge, Somizi Mhlongo, for racist comments that that Idols judge made at the end of December.

"Gareth Cliff is suing for R25 million, including for defamation of character," Eric Mabuza told eNCA.

Gareth Cliff also wants the start of Idols production immediately halted, until such time as that he can be reinstated as a judge on the panel of the reality singing show.

Eric Mabuza says Gareth Cliff was fired without a proper hearing.

Eric Mabuza says both the Idols judges Unathi Msengana and Somizi Mhlongo made inappropriate comments in the past but nothing happened to them while "they [M-Net] simply fired him without even a proper hearing".

Eric Mabuza says Gareth Cliff is of the belief that he would have remained an Idols judge for another 4 to 5 seasons on the show - meaning that according to him, Idols in South Africa would have continued to at least a15th or 16th season.

Gareth Cliff last week said being on Idols and being an Idols judge on the M-Net and Mzansi Magic show was only a hobby, described it as "an extramural activity" and that "I have felt my time was up a good couple of years ago".

Also last week Gareth Cliff said on his online show at CliffCentral that 'A lot of people are saying I'm going to take them [M-Net and Idols] to court and stuff which is nonsense".

Now he wants R25 million from M-Net for no longer participating in the extramural activity, and is taking M-Net to court.

The 12th season of Idols will no longer be a co-production between M-Net and Mzansi Magic with M-Net that has dumped Idols in favour of The Voice South Africa, and with Idols that will now only be broadcast on the Mzansi Magic channel.

SABC pays out R42,6 million in golden handshakes the past 6 years to get rid of executives; enough for 26 415 annual SABC TV licence renewals.

The SABC has paid out R42,6 million in golden handshakes over the past 6 years to executives leaving the embattled South African public broadcaster - enough for 26 415 annual SABC TV licence renewals.

The country's public broadcaster has made it rain to the tune of R42,6 million in golden handshakes for executives leaving the SABC over the past 6 years, the minister of communications Faith Muthambi has revealed in parliament in reply to a question from the Democratic Alliance (DA).

Former SABC CEO Dali Mpofu was the biggest money getter - receiving a whopping severance pay-out totalling R6,7 million as well as an additional R4,4 million in a restraint of trade payment and an additional R2,1 million in legal fees, bringing the total to a massive R13,2 million golden handshake payout.

The former SABC CEO Lulama Mokhobo who abruptly quit without giving reasons less than a year (11 months) after taking over as the top executive at the beleaguered broadcaster was paid out a massive R5,6 million after not finishing her 5 year contract. It included a R4,2 million agreed separation payment and a R1,4 million restraint of trade payment.

Other SABC executives who got millions of rands from the public broadcaster to go away was the former SABC head of news Phil Molefe, paid R4,9 million to leave in 2013.

Phil Molefe was forced out says Gavin Davis, the DA's member of parliament and member of parliament's portfolio committee on communications, because he allegedly refused to bow to political pressure to blacklist Julius Malema from the airwaves.

The SABC's former acting chief operating officer (COO) Christine Mampane got R4,3 million and the former SABC CEO Solly Mokoetle took home R3,8 million.

Solly Mokoetle is now the head of South Africa's digital terrestrial television (DTT) migration project at the department of communications.

Others rolling in the money after leaving the SABC with golden handshakes include former SABC secretary Thelma Melk (R3 million), Zaiboonisha Jones (R1.7 million), Rapitse Montsho (R1.2 million), Jackie Motsepe (R882 000), Christopher David (R800 000) and Khulekelwe Mbonambi (R623 000).

"The amount paid to executives whose contracts are terminated prematurely averages out at R7 million per year. This is the equivalent of 26 415 annual TV licence renewals," says Gavin Davis in a statement.

"In virtually all of these cases, the executives receiving the payouts were purged for political reasons."

"As with other public entities, SABC executives are hired on the basis of their perceived loyalty to the dominant faction of the ANC instead of their ability to do the job. When deployed cadres fall out of political favour, they get dumped with a massive payout to soften the landing."

"This constant churn of deployed cadres is the reason why the SABC lurches from one crisis to the next," says Gavin Davis.

Even the ANC now acknowledges that there's a leadership crisis at the SABC. In its recent NGC discussion paper, the ANC says "the series of crises at the public broadcaster reflect a lack of leadership, lack of accountability and poor management."

The ANC says there's been a lack of "attention to holding those responsible to account for the financial and organisational maladministration that has brought the public broadcasting institution into crisis".

BREAKING. SABC1's fired Generations cast now going to High Court; demand that the SABC stop broadcasting 'new' Generations by 10 January 2015.

With plummeting ratings and having lost millions of viewers more drama is waiting behind the scenes for SABC1's beleaguered restarted soap with the fired principal cast now taking their cast to the High Court with help from a former SABC CEO and demanding that the SABC stop broadcasting Generations: The Legacy at the latest by 10 January 2015.

While viewers have soured in their millions and turned on the soap which restarted at the beginning of last week after a break of two months due to acrimonious infighting behind the scenes between the fired principal cast and the SABC and MMSV Productions, the Generations Actors Guild (SAG) is now going to challenge their dismissal by producer Mfundi Vundla in the High Court.

In the ever-widening scandal they're helped in their battle against the SABC and Mfundi Vundla by none other than the former SABC CEO, advocate Dali Mpofu. 

They've now withdrawn their case from the CCMA and is going to the High Court instead.

The SABC's now acting CEO Hlaudi Motsoeneng promised the fired Generations cast three year contracts in June 2013 which more than a year later didn't materialise.

They also never got payment, known as residuals – and specified in their existing contracts – for the multiple rebroadcasts in South Africa and resales of the soap internationally. They eventually embarked on a stayaway and were promptly fired.

The scandal dominated TV and entertainment headlines since mid-August when the cast was fired, with ugly mudslinging between Mfundi Vundla and the SABC and the fired cast – something which has not been lost on viewers. 

The reset soap – sans the familiar faces – had a debut last Monday of 7.5 million viewers 15 and older – the demographic most coveted by advertisers, but plunged to a shocking 4.1 million viewers by this past Friday.

Now the Generations Actors Guild says the SABC, Mfundi Vundla and MMSV Productions breached some of their rights as defined in the South African Constitution. 

The Generations Actors Guild delivered a legal letter demanding that the "new" Generations be taken off SABC1 by the SABC no later than 10 January 2015.

Dali Mpofu told the Generations Actors Guild that besides labour rights, their issue involves contractual and constitutional issues.

"The decision by MMSV Productions and the SABC to create a new show while the case with the Generations cast was as yet unresolved represents a breach of the contractual and fundamental constitutional rights of the actors and they both did so knowing there was a pending dispute and hence it was at their own risk," says the actors' attorney, Bulelani Mzamo.

"The cast had always expressed their desire to return to work. Their withdrawal of services was taken as a last resort, based on the fact that this agreement was continuously violated."

"The actors consistently expressed their willingness to return to work. Nonetheless, MMSV Productions hired new actors and commenced with a new production, Generations The Legacy, knowing that they have not resolved the fundamental contractual issues with the cast of Generations. It is on this basis that we are taking the cast to the High Court."

"Generations The Legacy should never have been produced and aired while the current dispute was still unresolved."

"This is going to be an important case – not only for defining the rights of the actors, the production company and the SABC, but also the interests of the licence-paying public and the millions of Generations fans across the country and the continent," says Bulelani Mzamo.

Universal condemnation grows over SABC appointment of matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng as ANC, SACP, FXI, Mwasa, join chorus of criticism.

There's universal, growing condemnation and outrage over the SABC's shocking, ridiculous and unexpected permanent appointment of the famously matricless and highly controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng as the beleaguered SABC's chief operating officer (COO).

The ANC political party, SACP political party, the Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI), Mwasa trade union, the former SABC CEO Dali Mpofu and others have joined the growing chorus of concern and criticism levelled at the struggling SABC, the SABC board, and South Africa's new minister of communications, Faith Muthambi, .

The SABC board and Faith Muthambi are reponsible for pushing through the disgraceful appointment and all but shattering whatever was left of the SABC's credibility as a public broadcaster.

The SABC and the SABC board has so far failed to act on any of the recommendations of the Public Protector's damning report of Hlaudi Motsoeneng which was issued in February and which states that "Hlaudi Motsoeneng should never have been appointed at the SABC".

The SABC also never advertised the position of COO.


ANC
"When such an appointment is made, given all the challenges that were there at the SABC before, at least we should be taken into confidence either by the SABC board or deployees of the ANC through the minister, so that we can have a better understanding," says Zizi Kodwa, ANC national spokesperson.


SACP
The SACP wants Faith Muthambi to review the position and to readvertise the positions of SABC CEO and CFO, and to also advertise the COO position. "We want to see this position readvertised properly," says Solly Maphaila, secretary general of the SACP.

"If Hlaudi Motsoeneng is competent enough, is he can prove he has been doing well, or others can prove that they can do better, on that basis a competent panel can then look into that and take a decision".


The Freedom of Expression Institute (FXI)
"The Freedom of Expression Institute is disappointed at the permanent appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as COO of the SABC. The appointment represents a further divergence of the public broadcaster from any hopes of restoring confidence in the fulfilment of its mandate under the current leadership," says FXI executive director Phenyo Dean Butale. 

"The appointment by Faith Muthambi has undermined the due process to be exercised by the SABC board in acting in the recommendations of the Public Protector's report".

"The appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng in such a matter shows the complete disregard for prescribed procedure in the recruitment of senior management within the organisation. Faith Muthambi has justified the appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng on the basis that he has been doing a good job. Evidence to support this claim is however not apparent".

"However, what is without doubt is that the SABC remains in crisis of management, strategy and implementation. Evidence in this regard is overwhelming with the SABC over the past 3 years receiving qualified audits reports".


Media Workers Association of South Africa (Mwasa)
"The shenanigans surrounding the hustled appointment of the controversial COO of the SABC represent a well-rehearsed repeat episode," says Tuwani Gumani, Mwasa secretary general.

"It has been a case of crisis management that includes massive golden handshakes and political back-patting. We have seen it all before but there seems to be no end to it".

"The latest installment involving Faith Muthambi, the SABC board, the parliamentary portfolio committee on communications, the office of the Public Protector and others, trumps all previous displays of ineptitude, incapacity,inefficiency, corruption and abuse of privilege to serve".

"It cannot be acceptable that individuals, even mavericks and populists, are persistently touted as messianic appointees that will 'turn the SABC around' ".

"The SABC is a public utility that must remain accessible to all citizens and it should provide ample space for all South Africans to find expression of their expectations, aspirations and experiences across its platforms and programmes".

"Meeting the least criteria and mediocre performance amounts to an insult to the South African public that deserves far more than brazen displays of greed, self-interest and corruption that have so far been the hallmarks of the SABC's chequered history".


Cosatu
"The  Congress of South African Trade Unions condemns the decisions of the SABC board and the minister of communications and urges the minister and the SABC board to comply with the call to review their decision endorsing the appointment".



Support Public Broadcasting Coalition (SOS Coalition)
"Where was the fair, transparent and public appointment process we were promised by the ministry?" asks the SOS Coalition.

"The post was not advertised and, as such, no thorough recruitment process was followed". The SOS Coalition says Hlaudi Motsoeneng's permanent COO appointment will "further undermine the stability and credibility of the SABC".


Public Protector Thuli Madonsela
Thuli Madonsela told eNCA (DStv 403) that Hlaudi Motsoeneng "lied to the SABC about having a matric certificate. He admitted to me, and I have a recorded interview with him".

"Secondly the position was initially advertised as a position requiring certain qualifications. Therefore Hlaudi Motsoeneng didn't have those qualifications. One of them was a tertiary degree which he didn't have".

"The SABC board chairperson Ellen Zandile Tshabalala has written to me several times requesting extra time to submit and implementation plan".

"She was supposed to do that in 30 days. Five months down the line I'm still waiting for just a simple plan that indicated what Ellen Zandile Tshabalala is going to do. That obviously would have included her indicating to me how and when they were going to appoint the SABC's new COO".


Broadcasting, Electronic Media and Allied Workers Union (Bemawu)
Bemawu says it is "shocked" by the unprocedural appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng.

Bemawu says it demands "that the appointment be reversed and due process be followed, failing which we will legally challenge the recruitment process".


Dali Mpofu, former SABC CEO
Dali Mpofu, a former SABC CEO told Alec Hogg on CNBC Africa (DStv 410) that "All I can say is that it's pathetic when we get to a situation where skills are not valued, where the message that we send to young people is that you don't have to work hard to get those degrees or to acquire those skills - all you need is to be connected".

"I always say that even if you are going to employ people who agree with you politically, first and foremost, they must have the skills to do what they have to do".

"It discredits the whole notion of transformation if you're literally going to grab some guy from the taxi rank".

"The job of SABC COO is a very complex job. The job of the COO at the SABC is even more complex than the CEO's job, so I don't understand how anyone who allegedly does not have matric can even do it at all".


DA
The Democratic Alliance (DA) political party in a statement calls Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appointment as SABC COO "a dark day for democracy".

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng has been given a renewed mandate to continue his reign of terror at the public broadcaster," says Gavin Davis, the DA shadow minister of communications.

"We can expect more surveillance and purging of SABC staff, more clampdowns on editorial independence and more 'happy news' that reflects positively on the governing party".

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng should have been suspended and disciplined following the Public Protector's report, not promoted. Hlaudi Motsoeneng has earned a reputation as a Goebbels-like figure at the centre of President Jacob Zuma's propaganda machine".


EFF
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) political party in a statement says it is "distraught by Hlaudi Motsoeneng's appointment.

"Hlaudi Motsoeneng does not deserve to be COO, because he is a liar and a conman," says EFF member of parliament Mbuyiseni Ndlozi.


Afriforum
The civil rights group Afriforum says in a statement the shocking appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as SABC COO is "a further example of disrespect for the constitution and constitutional institutions that exist to protect the public against abuse of power and mismanagement".

Former SABC CEO Dali Mpofu on matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng: 'Pathetic when we get to a situation where skills are not valued'.

The former SABC CEO Dali Mpofu is shocked and perplexed by how the famously matricless and highly controversial Hlaudi Motsoeneng could ever have been suddenly permanently appointed as chief operating officer (COO) at the SABC, saying the job and position is even more difficult and complex than that of the SABC CEO and slamming the SABC for message its sending to South African's youth.

The shocking appointment of the matricless Hlaudi Motsoeneng comes as he is embroiled in multiple maladministration and misconduct charges in a scathing report from South Africa's Public Protector released earlier this year which stated that "Hlaudi Motsoeneng should never have been appointed at the SABC".

Dali Mpofu interviewed on CNBC Africa (DStv 410) was asked by Alec Hogg about the scandalous appointment of Hlaudi Motsoeneng as SABC COO.

Dali Mpofu said "Id' rather not go there", and then: "All I can say is that it's pathetic when we get to a situation where skills are not valued, where the message that we send to young people is that you don't have to work hard to get those degrees or to acquire those skills - all you need is to be connected".

"I always say that even if you are going to employ people who agree with you politically, first and foremost, they must have the skills to do what they have to do," said Dali Mpofu on CNBC Africa.

"It discredits the whole notion of transformation if you're literally going to grab some guy from the taxi rank and say 'go do Alec Hogg's job'. That cannot be what it's about; it has to be about skills".

Dali Mpofu said the job of SABC COO "is a very complex job, I can tell you. The job of the COO at the SABC is even more complex than the CEO's job, so I don't understand how anyone who allegedly does not have matric can even do it at all".

BREAKING. Former SABC CEO Dali Mpofu: 'The SABC is a slave of the ANC', says 'his master's voice' is muzzling freedom of speech.

A former CEO of the SABC, Dali Mpofu, is lashing out at the South African public broadcaster, saying "the SABC is a slave of the ANC".

Advocate Dali Mpofu who was the CEO of the SABC between 2005 and 2009, trashed the SABC in front of the Compliance and Complaints Committee of South Africa's broadcasting regulator during a late Friday public hearing.

Dali Mpofu said "other neutral broadcasters, not slaves to the ruling party, have aired the advert".

Dali Mpofu, a former card-carrying ANC member, was referring to the shocking way in which the SABC banned the Democratic Alliance party's "Ayisafani" TV commercial, followed two weeks later by also banning the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) political party TV commercial just before the upcoming elections.

Dali Mpofu said "his master's voice" - a reference to the ANC stemming from the apartheid -era days when the SABC was a National Party mouth piece - is "muzzling" freedom of speech in South Africa.

"The fear expressed by the SABC [of banning political TV adverts' amounts to censorship, it is a citizen's right to choose or reject," Dali Mpofu told the Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (Icasa).

BREAKING. Dali Mpofu, former SABC CEO, stabbed and robbed; in serious but stable condition in hospital.

Dali Mpofu, a former SABC CEO, has been stabbed during a robbery attack in East London and is currently in a serious but stable condition in hospital.

Dali Mpofu - an advocate who has represented several other SABC employees such as the SABC's suspended chief financial officer (CFO) Gugu Duda as well as the "indefinitely on long, special leave" head of news and current affairs Phil Molefe last year in legal and court proceedings - is also representing the injured miners who were involved in the Marikana Massacre in front of the Farlam Commission of Inquiry.

Dali Mpofu was mugged and stabbed on Thursday afternoon at Eastern Beach in East London by two attackers who took his personal belongings like his cellphone, according to the police.

Dali Mpofu was rushed to hospital with stab wounds in his upper and lower body and is currently in a serious but stable condition.

Dali Mpofu was axed as SABC CEO in January 2009; in August of that year after a drawn-out battle, the SABC agreed on a golden handshake of R11 million for him to walk away from the public broadcaster and to withdraw all legal action against the SABC.

Suspended SABC news boss Phil Molefe loses his court application to have his suspension and pending disciplinary hearing ruled unlawful.

The SABC's embattled and suspended news boss Phil Molefe who has been placed on "special leave" for the largest part of the year from his R2,2 million job has lost an acrimonious court battle to force the SABC and its CEO Lulama Mokhobo to reinstate him as the public broadcaster's head of news and current affairs.

Lulama Mokhobo placed Phil Molefe on "special leave" back in April (while the SABC was working on creating a new 24-hour TV news channel with pay-TV platform MultiChoice, now with no permanent head of news at the SABC) when Phil Molefe refused to hand over the SABC News division's news diaries to her.

The SABC which has refused to talk about the reasons, said at the time Phil Molefe was placed on "special leave" due to "human resource matters". Phil Molefe decided to challenge his suspension, saying that the order to forward the daily news diary to the SABC's CEO Lulama Mokhobo amounted to editorial interference.

Phil Molefe, interestingly represented by advocate Dali Mpofu - a previous CEO of the SABC - will now have to face off with the SABC's top executive in a disciplinary hearing after the South Gauteng High Court dismissed Phil Molefe's court application to have the pending disciplinary hearing declared unlawful.

Phil Molefe also wanted his suspension to be declared unlawful in a bid to get his "special leave" declared "unlawful and, accordingly, invalid, null and void".

CLASH OF THE EGOs, UHM, CEOs: Former CEO, current CEO and former acting CEO at the SABC square off today for an epic battle.

Talk about a multi-pronged approach at the SABC! Squaring off for a titanic clash, starting today at the South African public broadcaster, is the SABC's current CEO Lulama Mokhobo, the SABC's former acting CEO Phil Molefe, and the SABC's former CEO Dali Mpofu.

Talk about SABC CEO overload - all ready to do battle with each other! This is like Transformers - Dark Side of the Moon, but just in real life.

After denying a growing rift, the fact that there is a two day disciplinary hearing for Phil Molefe starting today at the SABC, seems to suggest that indeed there's more than just a "human resources issue" as to why Phil Molefe, the SABC's head of news and current affairs was placed on "special leave" earlier this year - now for almost 3 months already.

A disciplinary hearing means someone is of the opinion that someone did something wrong. Meanwhile the SABC isn't talking.

The SABC's CEO Lulama Mokhobo on the one side is squaring off, starting today (and continuing Monday) with Phil Molefe - who used to be the acting CEO of the SABC before Lulama Mokhobo got the job.

To make things even more interesting and to add spice to the mix of the latest SABC drama, is that Dali Mpofu is Phil Molefe's legal council. Now, Dali Mpofu is a former SABC CEO as well, besides being a lawyer. So basically there is at least three people in a room who've served in the office of SABC CEO. Will the room be big enough?

Of course CEO is just one letter away from EGO, and today's start of an epic clash about news diaries and authority and allegedly leaking information to the press should be as interesting as a Transformers movie: "I am Megatron! But I am Optimus Prime! You're all pathetic; I am Sentinel Prime! (said with Spock's voice)".

Disciplinary hearing of the SABC's suspended group CEO Solly Mokoetle suddenly postponed for a SECOND time.

Is there a worse-run broadcasting institution anywhere in South Africa more decrepit, incompetent, unorganized, confused, spineless and completely out of touch more than the SABC where the South African public broadcaster suspended its group CEO Solly Mokoetle and ordered a disciplinary hearing with 22 charges, only to now have stalled and postponed it indefinitely for a second time? Ludicrous.

After the disciplinary hearing of the suspended Solly Mokoetle started last Monday, only for it to be postponed indefinitely last Wednesday, and then starting again this Monday, it has now been suspended AGAIN, and again indefinitely. Of course SABC license payers money as well as tax payers money are used to pay for the SABC's legal representation in this drawn-out arbitration affair in which the suspended Solly Mokoetle is accused, amongst other things, of failing to draft and implement a turnaround strategy for the beleaguered broadcaster.

It's almost December and bonus time. Since working at the SABC seems to work like dog years, the beleaguered Solly Mokoetle who started on 10 January 2010 has basically been group CEO for nine months when he got suspended in September. That's nine, bring over the 2 and then . . . 
Which basically now begs the question: Is the SABC board suddenly going to give Solly Mokoetle a R30 million contract payout and ''golden handshake'' just like the SABC's interim board did last August (how time flies!) with the SABC's previous group CEO, who became the previous suspended group CEO Dali Mpofu, who got R12 million?

ALSO READ: The SABC's suspended group CEO Solly Mokoetle to now represent himself in his disciplinary hearing.
ALSO READ: Disciplinary hearing of the SABC's suspended group CEO Solly Mokoetle suddenly postponed indefinitely.

BREAKING. SABC makes a MASSIVE LOSS of R910 million that can ''not only be blamed on the economic downturn''.

You're reading it here first. The SABC has made a MASSIVE LOSS of R910 MILLION in the latest financial year (ending March 2009),  A HUGE LOSS that ''can not only be blamed on the economic downturn'' the public broadcaster just admitted.

Irene Charnley, interim chairperson of the interim SABC board says the massive loss the SABC made can partially be blamed on ''the very public and sustained battles at a leadership level'' at the SABC.

The SABC has finalised and submitted its annual report and financial statements for the year ending 31 March 2009 and it ca be read HERE.

''The economic downturn inevitably impacted on the SABC’s revenue, however it would be disingenuous to blame this alone for the results,'' says Irene.

The SABC also admits that ''schedule instability'' has ''negatively impacted on revenue'' - meaning in normal language that the crazy scheduling, the broadcast of events at short notice and the incorrect broadcasting of adverts (which the SABC then has to pay back) has cost the broadcaster money.

* The SABC increased it's revenue bby 0,9% to R4 746 million, but its expenditure increased by 19%.
* Employee costs increased by 15% because the SABC appointed more staff.
* The SABC severly underbudgeted for the amount of international news bureaus it had.
* SABC News International was a HUGE DRAIN on the SABC's operational expenditure.
* The rights for movies and sports increased by 15%.
* The SABC paid 38,2% MORE in consultation and management fees.
* Then there's also the R6,7 million the SABC paid to the former group CEO, Dali Mpofu.

The external auditors noted ''fruitless and wasteful expenditure and non-compliance with company policies''.

Irene Charnley says ''it will take time, leadership and commitment to turn the organisation around. There are no quick fixes to a crisis of this magnitude.''